But how big a role does the record play in answering this simple question about a Nuggets team that, at season’s end, will own the most wins in franchise history:

Is this the greatest Nuggets team ever?

Let that settle for a second…

I asked former Nuggets coach Doug Moe, who led the 1987-88 version to the first of what is now three 54-win seasons, if this team passed the eye-test. Record aside, does this look like one of the best teams in Nuggets history? He paused. Then, said this:

“Uh, yes because they are playing like it. They’re just a very good team with a lot of good players. Not what you’d call great players or superstars, it’s just a really, really good team.”

So then maybe the question is better phrased like this: Can a really, really good team be considered the best Nuggets team ever?

It could be that the playoffs ultimately decides this team’s place among the best in the franchise’s NBA history. Moe’s team lost in the conference semifinals. The other to hit this win mark, the 2008-09 Nuggets, marched all the way to the Western Conference Finals before two errant inbounds passes helped doom it to an eventual 4-2 loss to the Lakers.

Playoff success as a barometer suggests that no matter what this Nuggets team does, it will fall short of the others if it drops a first-round series.

Regular season success gives these Nuggets a clear edge. It was saddled with arguably the toughest opening season schedule in league history with 22 of its first 32 games on the road – and climbed out of that to get to this point. On Jan. 3, the Nuggets were 18-16. They are 36-8 since then. It conjures up memories of the 32-8 record coach George Karl led this team when he took over in 2005 – except this run, which includes a team-record 21 straight home victories, is better.

These Nuggets dominate at home unlike any other in team history. They take advantage of the altitude and run like a Doug Moe team. Yet they play crafty basketball, emblematic of the always-thinking Karl, who thrives on having answers for any situation.

Over the course of the season these Nuggets have reduced the impact of their deficiencies. A weak defensive team at the start of the season, these Nuggets have transformed themselves into one of the NBA’s best – unconventional, yes, but since the All-Star break they are in the top 10 in field goal percentage against and have allowed just 99.2 points per game, while scoring 107.4.

They are a much improved half court team, winning grind-out affairs against Memphis, Boston, Dallas and San Antonio. They are 4-2 when scoring under 100 points since the All-Star break.

Then there are the individual pieces. Is Ty Lawson better than 2009’s point guard, Chauncey Billups? Is Andre Iguodala a superior defender to 1988’s T.R. Dunn? There was, and still is, debate on whether Carmelo Anthony should have his jersey retired in Denver as the greatest Nugget of them all. Is anyone on this team close to that?

This is where the lines blur, where black-and-white becomes gray. Is this team, in fact, a better team than either of the other two? In a seven-game series, which would win? And wouldn’t that determine which of these three rises above the others?

At the start of this season, to even suggest this year’s team had a chance to go down as the greatest in franchise history would have gotten anyone laughed out of the room. Perhaps it still would. But what this group of fearless, scrappy, lightning-fast Nuggets have accomplished is at least legitimately open the door to the debate.